ty of Negra, or Nag'ran, in Yemen, is surrounded
with palm-trees, and stands in the high road between Saana, the capital,
and Mecca; from the former ten, from the latter twenty days' journey of
a caravan of camels, (Abulfeda, Descript. Arabiae, p. 52.)]

[Footnote 98: The martyrdom of St. Arethas, prince of Negra, and his
three hundred and forty companions, is embellished in the legends of
Metaphrastes and Nicephorus Callistus, copied by Baronius, (A. D 522,
No. 22--66, A.D. 523, No. 16--29,) and refuted with obscure diligence,
by Basnage, (Hist. des Juifs, tom. viii. l. xii. c. ii. p. 333--348,)
who investigates the state of the Jews in Arabia and Aethiopia. * Note:
According to Johannsen, (Hist. Yemanae, Praef. p. 89,) Dunaan (Ds Nowas)
massacred 20,000 Christians, and threw them into a pit, where they were
burned. They are called in the Koran the companions of the pit (socii
foveae.)--M.]

[Footnote 99: Alvarez (in Ramusio, tom. i. fol. 219, vers. 221, vers.)
saw the flourishing state of Axume in the year 1520--luogomolto buono
e grande. It was ruined in the same century by the Turkish invasion.
No more than 100 houses remain; but the memory of its past greatness is
preserved by the regal coronation, (Ludolph. Hist. et Comment. l. ii. c.
11.) * Note: Lord Valentia's and Mr. Salt's Travels give a high notion
of the ruins of Axum.--M.]

[Footnote 9911: The Negus is differently called Elesbaan, Elesboas,
Elisthaeus, probably the same name, or rather appellation. See St.
Martin, vol. viii. p. 49.--M.]

[Footnote 9912: According to the Arabian authorities, (Johannsen, Hist.
Yemanae, p. 94, Bonn, 1828,) Abrahah was an Abyssinian, the rival of
Ariathus, the brother of the Abyssinian king: he surprised and slew
Ariathus, and by his craft appeased the resentment of Nadjash, the
Abyssinian king. Abrahah was a Christian; he built a magnificent church
at Sana, and dissuaded his subjects from their accustomed pilgrimages to
Mecca. The church was defiled, it was supposed, by the Koreishites, and
Abrahah took up arms to revenge himself on the temple at Mecca. He was
repelled by miracle: his elephant would not advance, but knelt down
before the sacred place; Abrahah fled, discomfited and mortally wounded,
to Sana--M.]

[Footnote 100: The revolutions of Yemen in the sixth century must be
collected from Procopius, (Persic. l. i. c. 19, 20,) Theophanes Byzant.,
(apud Phot. cod. lxiii. p. 80,) St. Theophanes, (in Chronograph. p.
1